CLARE AMATEUR AINE Donegan is hoping for an invite to this year’s Irish Open after she stole headlines at the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach. 

Donegan qualified for the US Open through the Peninsula Golf Club in California and her preparations for the showpiece event at Pebble Beach were complicated by the fact an airline lost her clubs as she flew from an amateur event in Scotland. Any relief in the moment when she was reunited with her clubs was tempered by the realisation her driver was broken. But the 21-year-old from Clare then went out and opened with a stunning round of three-under par, leaving her a single shot off the lead at the end of the first day’s play. 

Donegan then shot rounds of 76, 75, and 77 to finish in a tie for 45th place and narrowly miss out on the top amateur prize, finishing a shot behind Italy’s Benedetta Moresco. She battled a cold during her final round, and reflected on an emotional whirlwind after she stepped off the course. 

“Today was a long day”, she said. “I’m fighting a bit of an illness at the moment. Woke up feeling horrible and I didn’t have much energy, to be honest.

“Finally got up-and-down on 17 and then to hit one out of the seaweed onto the fairway and then hit a shot into that – I mean, if you’d told me looking at my drive coming off 18 with a par I’d be taking it. But no, feeling very, very thankful right now to have my friends here and just everyone who’s out here supporting me.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better week. My goal was to make the cut. And then obviously today is disappointing, but I’m coming off a long stretch of events, and unfortunately today I didn’t feel great yesterday, and I knew I was kind of getting a bit sick, and then today I have no energy and a bit of a cold and stuff.

“So happy with how the week went, and I can’t thank the USGA and all the fans enough for everything, really. And my coach Gary from Glenlo Abbey and everyone at home as well supporting me.”

Donegan is studying at Louisiana State University and says she has no immediate plans to turn professional, saying she wants to complete her stay at the university. She is going to target qualification for the Open Championship, however, and hopes to bag another invite to the Women’s Irish Open at the end of August. 

“I have a final qualifier for The Open, and then I have the Irish Open at Dromoland Castle hopefully. If they give me an invite. I got invited last year so hopefully that again this year. And it’s only 10 minutes from my house, which will be very nice.” 

Though she won’t be turning pro straight away, Donegan says she comes away from Pebble Beach with a heightened respect for the game’s top players. 

“I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned that these tournaments are tiring, definitely. I kind of admire the pros more after that, after this week, for how much they travel and just how exhausting it actually is.” 

American Allisen Corpuz won the title, with Leona Maguire finishing two shots better off than Donegan in a tie for 31st place.